State Council meeting began at 15:15 with one absence

This Friday, the meeting of the Council of State to analyze the economic, social and political situation in the country began at 15:15 in the Belém Palace in Lisbon in the absence of Councilor Manuel Alegre.

State Councilor Antonio Damasio, who lives in the United States of America, will attend the meeting via videoconference, a source in the presidential administration told Lusa.

This is the 30th meeting of the Council of State, convened by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced in May by the head of state, who said he wanted to hear the councilors discuss the “economic, social and political situation” in the country.

“Of course, it will be very useful to hear how state advisers there, in the State Council, will say what they think about economic evolution, social evolution, as well as about the analysis of institutions, their functioning, the judgments they formulate,” he said.

At the time, the President of the Republic pointed out that some councilors “intervened a lot” in public while others “intervened little” and that the advantage of formal meetings with them was that “everyone listens to everyone and there is an interaction that is much richer”.

Last week, the head of state admitted that he brought the topic of TAP to the meeting after the completion of the work of the parliamentary commission to investigate the political supervision of the leadership of this company: “I will read out a report on this issue, if I have something to say, I will first inform the State Council.”

“And after reporting to the State Council, depending on what I say or don’t say to the State Council, I say it publicly,” he added.

The previous meeting of the political body of the presidential consultations took place a little over a month ago, on June 16, and was devoted to European news with the participation of the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola as a guest.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced this new meeting of the Council of State after expressing a “fundamental disagreement” about keeping João Galamba in government, and not after the April 26 incidents at the Ministry of Infrastructure.

However, he immediately noted that he would not listen to his political advisory body “for the exercise of presidential powers” – such as the resignation of the government or the dissolution of parliament.

“I am not planning any specific actions as the State Council. Unless I understand that there is a reason to talk to the Portuguese about a certain issue. I will make a decision after hearing the State Council,” he said.

In a State of the Union address on 4 May, the President of the Republic stated that Prime Minister António Costa’s decision to keep João Galamba as minister was costly to the authority of the government and the state, and promised to be “even more attentive and active in everyday life.”

This Friday’s meeting takes place the day after the debate on the State of the Nation in Parliament, at the last plenary meeting of this legislative session, and after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa heard the parties that won seats in Parliament from Friday to Monday.

The Council of State, headed by the President of the Republic, includes persons holding the positions of Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Ombudsman, chairmen of regional governments and former Presidents of the Republic.

In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, it also consists of five citizens appointed by the head of state for a term corresponding to their term of office, and five citizens elected by the Assembly of the Republic in accordance with the principle of proportional representation for a term corresponding to the term of the legislature.

At the start of his second term, in March 2021, Marcelo Rebelo de Souza appointed the writer Lidia Jorge as a member of the Council of State and reappointed four members of the council: former CDS-PP leader Antonio Lobo Xavier, former PSD President Luis Marques Méndez, President of the Champalimo Foundation Leonor Beles, and neuroscientist António Damasio.

In turn, after the January 2022 legislative elections, the Assembly of the Republic elected Carlos Cesar, Manuel Alegre and Antonio Sampaio da Novoa, nominated by the PS, Francisco Pinto Balseman and Miguel Cadille, nominated by the PSD, to the Council of State.